THE FIRST SONG OF THE YEAR 207

as were likely to run in the head of one to whom a sudden
consolation had come. He took up the papers one by one,
sometimes smiling, yet ashamed of himself for doing so.
Then he wetted the pen and was just about to write a
message of his own, when the Lady of Akashi suddenly
appeared from a back room. Despite the splendours by
which she was now surrounded she still maintained a certain
deference of manner and anxiety to please which marked her
as belonging to a different class. Yet there was some-
thing about the way her very dark hair stood out against
the white of her dress, hanging rather fiat against it, that
strangely attracted him. It was New Year's night. He
could not very well absent himself from his own apartments,
for there were visitors coming and Murasaki was expecting
him. . . .

Yet it was in the Lady of Akashi's rooms that he spent
the night, thus causing considerable disappointment in
many quarters, but above all in the southern wing, where
Murasaki's gentlewomen made bitter comments upon this
ill-timed defection.

It was still almost dark when Genji returned, and he
persuaded himself that, though he had stayed out Late, it
could not be said that he had been absent for a night. To
the Lady of Akashi, on her side it seemed that he was
suddenly rising to leave her just as the night was beginning.
Nevertheless, she was enraptured by his visit. Murasaki
would no doubt have sat up waiting for him, and he was
quite prepared to find her in rather a bad humour. But
one never knows, and in order to find out he said: * I
have just had the most uncomfortable doze. It was too
childish, ... I fell asleep in my chair. I wish some one
had woken me. It was the most mistaken kindness. , , /
But no! She did not reply, and seeing that for the moment
there was no more to be done, he lay back and pretended